In the aftermath of last week\u2019s election, cannabis reform advocates are working to determine what the outcomes will mean for state-level efforts at legalization. Shifts in party control over legislative chambers as well as the election of new governors in some states have forced activists to take a hard look at strategy for the coming legislative sessions.<\/p>\n
Marijuana Moment spoke with activists involved in reform efforts in various states in the past week, including staffers at the organization Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), about what the election results might mean in the year ahead. They said that some states, such as Pennsylvania and Hawaii, are well positioned to potentially enact adult-use legalization, while voters in New Hampshire, for example, may have largely shut the door to legalization for the time being.<\/p>\n
Yet the picture in other states, including Florida and Wisconsin, remains less clear in the election\u2019s aftermath, with strong support among voters for marijuana legalization but legislative makeups that raise questions about whether any kind of reform might ultimately be achievable.<\/p>\n
In Pennsylvania, Democrats will retain their one-seat majority control of the state\u2019s House of Representatives following last week\u2019s election, which could help pro-legalization Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) make progress toward enacting the reform. Republicans, meanwhile, will stay in control of the Senate.<\/p>\n
Despite the divided legislature, many advocates are optimistic that Pennsylvania could be in the next wave of states to pass adult-use legalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cPennsylvania, I still think, is one of the states that\u2019s most likely to pass in the next few years,\u201d Karen O\u2019Keefe, director of state policies at MPP, told Marijuana Moment in an interview.<\/p>\n
The local group Responsible PA, meanwhile, said after the election resulted in Democrats keeping their House majority that \u201cthe nation is now looking at Pennsylvania to be the next large state to legalize adult-use cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this chamber moved so close to bi-partisian cannabis legalization at the end of the 2024 session, we are hopeful to see the legislature double-down on their efforts in January to get Pennsylvania on track with 90% of our neighbors with an adult-use cannabis market,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cThe conversation will also undoubtedly become a major budget item for PA lawmakers heading into 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n
House Leader Matt Bradford has said there\u2019s a \u201cwill in the House to move forward\u201d on marijuana legalization<\/a>, though he noted the proposal could run into pushback from the GOP-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n Polling suggests bipartisan support among voters for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, including in at least two jurisdictions where races were tight between House candidates of opposite parties<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September, bipartisan Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Emily Kinkead (D) formally introduced a bipartisan marijuana legalization bill<\/a>, alongside 15 other cosponsors.<\/p>\n And in July, Shapiro said his administration and lawmakers would \u201ccome back and continue to fight\u201d for marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0and other policy priorities that were omitted from budget legislation he signed into law that month.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a\u00a0top GOP Pennsylvania senator who has long expressed concerns about marijuana legalization\u00a0told advocates recently that she\u2019s against arresting people over cannabis<\/a>, noting that the policy change could protect her son and disclosing that if it weren\u2019t for marijuana, she might not have met her husband, according to an activist who spoke with her.<\/p>\n After last legislative session\u2019s push to legalize adult-use marijuana in Hawaii fell short, advocates are hopeful that the coming session could finally bring about the reform. O\u2019Keefe at MPP told Marijuana Moment that she thinks the state is perhaps the most likely to adopt legalization in the year ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cMy money would be on Hawaii being the best bet for legalization in 2025,\u201d she said. \u201cLooking at the election results overall\u201d in the state\u2019s legislature, she added, \u201cwe have more yeses and likely yeses than we have nos and likely nos.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not a slam-dunk,\u201d O\u2019Keefe acknowledged, \u201cbut it\u2019s the only state left [considering legalization] that\u2019s got a Democratic trifecta,\u201d with the party controlling both the governor\u2019s office and both chambers of the legislature.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a number of folks we still need to talk to in the House. The Senate remains largely supportive. The governor remains largely supportive,\u201d she continued. \u201cMy understanding is that the new speaker shouldn\u2019t be a problem. So we\u2019ll need to look at who ends up chairing and being on each of the committees that it needs to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n While\u00a0Hawaii\u2019s Senate approved a recreational marijuana legalization bill<\/a> in March, proposals to end prohibition have consistently stalled out before reaching the finish line. Following the failure of the broader legalization push<\/a>, Gov. Josh Green (D) said in April that he has \u201ca possible solution\u201d to the situation: vastly expanding the Hawaii\u2019s existing medical cannabis system<\/a>\u00a0to allow people to register based on\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0health concern rather than needing to have one of a specific list of conditions.<\/p>\n A separate bill to expand the state\u2019s existing law decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis also failed to pass this session.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Green signed a separate bill into law, HB 1595, to\u00a0create a single-county pilot program that will expunge certain non-conviction marijuana records<\/a>.<\/p>\n As originally introduced, that measure from Rep. David Tarnas (D) would have directed state officials to\u00a0automatically expunge tens of thousands of arrest\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0conviction records<\/a>\u00a0for low-level marijuana possession. But the Senate Judiciary Committee later gutted the proposal,\u00a0replacing the statewide plan with a pilot program in Hawaii County<\/a>\u00a0that would apply only to non-conviction arrest records.<\/p>\n State officials nevertheless continue to evaluate what legalization in Hawaii might look like. Last month they announced they\u2019re seeking proposals to assess the state\u2019s current medical marijuana program\u2014and also estimate demand for recreational cannabis sales<\/a> if the state eventually moves forward with adult-use legalization.<\/p>\n One common question in the aftermath of last week\u2019s defeat of Amendment 3<\/a>, which would have legalized adult-use marijuana in Florida, is whether the 56 percent support for the reform will encourage lawmakers to take action. While support didn\u2019t crack the 60-percent threshold needed to pass the constitutional amendment, campaign organizers have noted that a majority of Floridians came out in favor of ending prohibition.<\/p>\n Will that make a difference in the legislative session ahead? Advocates aren\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n \u201cIn all honesty, no, I don\u2019t,\u201d said MPP\u2019s Kevin Caldwell, when asked whether he believed lawmakers would be moved by the 55.9 percent of voters who cast ballots in favor of the reform. But while he\u2019d be surprised to Florida enact adult-use legalization anytime soon, Caldwell\u2014MPP\u2019s southeast legislative manager\u2014predicted the state might still take steps to expand its existing medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to working with allies on both sides of the fence,\u201d he told Marijuana Moment. \u201cWe will continue to see cannabis policies move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n As for what kind of changes the state might see, Caldwell noted that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) aligned himself with the state\u2019s hemp industry ahead of the election and campaigned hard against Amendment 3, he said, due in part to its lack of homegrow protections.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that fascinates me about Florida is this, for lack of a better word, obsession that Gov. DeSantis had with homegrow,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe that evolution continues and he allows the medical patients of Florida to grow a couple of plants for their own medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n In the days after the election, one Republican lawmaker floated the idea of pursuing a limited marijuana homegrow and personal-use legalization measure<\/a>, but other GOP politicians called the idea a nonstarter.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to test the waters and see the reception for a solely homegrown marijuana bill,\u201d said Rep. Alex Andrade (R), though he added he has \u201cno idea\u201d whether the proposal would get traction with other lawmakers.<\/p>\n At least some other lawmakers are open to the idea. Sen. Joe Gruters (R), who supported Amendment 3, said he\u2019d like to see recreational legalization but with more \u201cguardrails\u201d that opponents said the ballot measure was missing.<\/p>\n But incoming Senate President Ben Albritton (R) has said he doesn\u2019t support expansion of legalization beyond Florida\u2019s existing medical marijuana program. And incoming House Speaker Daniel Perez (R), who opposed the recent ballot measure, said\u00a0his views on legalization haven\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n Separately, Caldwell at MPP predicted lawmakers will have an appetite to go after the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products in the state this session, though DeSantis might stand in their way. \u201cThe Florida legislature harshly curtailed the consumable hemp program, and at the last minute, the governor vetoed that bill<\/a>, and there was not enough to override that veto,\u201d he said. \u201cSo where does the legislature go at this point?\u201d<\/p>\n What felt to many supporters last year like strong momentum to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire has diminished sharply since the election of Republican Kelly Ayotte to replace outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu (R)<\/a>. While Sununu was a hesitant supporter of adult-use legalization through a state-controlled system of franchised stores in the last legislative session, Gov.-elect Ayotte has said flatly that she\u2019ll oppose any effort at the reform.<\/p>\n Republicans also added to their majority control of the state Senate, ousting Democratic Minority Leader Donna Soucy and Sen. Shannon Chandley (D), both of whom had backed plans to legalize.<\/p>\n Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at the medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf, said the election results are likely to delay comprehensive legalization in New Hampshire for years\u2014though he left the door open for Ayotte to revise her views on the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Hampshire will definitely legalize cannabis someday,\u201d he told Marijuana Moment earlier this month. \u201cThe odds of that happening in the next biennium do not appear great.\u201d<\/p>\n (Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment\u2019s work through a\u00a0monthly Patreon pledge<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n Sen. Daryl Abbas (R), who helmed a state panel on cannabis in 2023 that failed to accomplish its charge of laying the groundwork for a legalization bill to begin last legislative session, told Marijuana Moment in an email last week that there are \u201cmore pressing matters\u201d for the session ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had an opportunity to legalize marijuana last session but that window has closed,\u201d Abbas said. \u201cI will not support efforts to legalize cannabis and would likely vote against such legislation. I believe there are more pressing matters that need my attention to help serve the people of my district and the people of New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the new governor\u2019s opposition and an uphill fight in the legislature, Democratic Rep. Jared Sullivan has requested two versions of legalization legislation be drafted for the coming session: one bill that would legalize and regulate a commercial cannabis industry and another that would merely legalize personal possession and use.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are unlikely to pass [and] become law,\u201d the lawmaker acknowledged in an email last week, \u201cbut at least the conversation will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayotte\u2019s campaign has not responded to a request for comment sent last week.<\/p>\n State lawmakers nearly passed legislation this past session that would have legalized and regulated marijuana for adults. The Republican-sponsored measure had bipartisan support in both legislative chambers, but House Democrats narrowly voted to table it<\/a>\u00a0at the last minute.<\/p>\n Tabling the legislation\u00a0sparked accusations that politicians were using the issue to earn the party votes at the ballot box<\/a>, but most who voted against the bill at the time said they were opposed to the plan on its merits, pointing to the proposal\u2019s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said in May that he was \u201chopeful\u201d that legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis could pass if Democrats took control of the legislature<\/a> in the election. Despite gains for the party through several flipped seats following a redistricting plan that was enacted, the GOP will maintain its majority in both the state Senate and Assembly in the next session.<\/p>\n \u201cIt still seems possible, maybe, that Wisconsin could pass medical cannabis,\u201d said O\u2019Keefe at MPP. But it\u2019s not the more favorable outcome that advocates were hoping for.<\/p>\n Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, unveiled a medical cannabis bill in January<\/a>, proposing the \u201cmost restrictive\u201d medical cannabis law in the country. It quickly drew criticism, both from Democrats who wanted comprehensive legalization, as well as Republican Senate leaders who took issue with the specifics of the proposal.<\/p>\n O\u2019Keefe said she saw a possibility for medical marijuana in Wisconsin in the legislative session ahead, but only if parties can find common ground on what a revised medical bill would look like.<\/p>\n Between the two Carolinas, Caldwell at MPP said he\u2019s more bullish on the northern neighbor in terms of likely cannabis reform this session. He pointed to Democratic gains in the State House and support for medical marijuana from Republican Sen. Bill Rabon, a colon cancer survivor who\u2019s said cannabis helped him manage nausea<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSen. Rabon has said that he\u2019s going to continue to [introduce] his medical cannabis bill every year as long as he\u2019s in,\u201d Caldwell said, \u201cso he\u2019s going to continue to push.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile in the House, Caldwell noted, Republicans now have a simple majority\u2014not the supermajority they had before the election. And Democrats will hold the positions of attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor and governor.<\/p>\n If Gov.-elect Josh Stein (D), the state\u2019s current attorney general, \u201cuses his bully pulpit a little bit and plays it right,\u201d Caldwell said, he believes there\u2019s a chance for at least some moderate reforms, for example strengthening what he called the state\u2019s \u201cincredibly weak\u201d so-called decriminalization law, under which possession is a misdemeanor but does not carry the possibility of jail time.<\/p>\n In June, the North Carolina Senate approved a bill that would legalize medical marijuana<\/a>, though the reform has consistently stalled in the House due to a lack of majority support within the Republican caucus. Text in that bill was similar to that of a separate, standalone bill from Rabon.<\/p>\n As he\u2019s previously disclosed, Rabon said\u00a0his doctor advised him to use marijuana before he went through serious chemotherapy, and he visited his local law enforcement to tell them that he intended to break the law to use the plant for therapy. Packages of marijuana then regularly showed up in the mail, and he\u2019d take \u201cthree puffs\u201d of cannabis after work to treat his symptoms.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in North Carolina, the only legal marijuana retailer within the state began sales to all adults 21 and older in September<\/a>. The shop is located on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, where the tribe\u2019s members voted to legalize adult-use cannabis in September of last year.<\/p>\n As for South Carolina, Caldwell said there\u2019s \u201cstill a lot of questions\u201d around how a medical marijuana bill would fare in the state legislature, but he predicted that state is \u201cgoing to continue to have challenges\u201d on its path to adopting the change.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce again, our hero and lead sponsor [Republican Sen.] Tom Davis was strongly re-elected again,\u201d Caldwell said. \u201cWe know he\u2019s dedicated to this, and we got a lot of new people coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis\u2019s medical cannabis legislation has advanced through the Senate<\/a> several times only to consistently stall on the House side.<\/p>\n While there may not currently be enough votes to enact the reform, Caldwell emphasized the possible impact of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, whom he noted has \u201cspoken very, very much in favor of medical cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible, \u201cspecifically in the Carolinas, and maybe even to a point in Kansas, maybe there will be some kind of push from the executive branch to come to a compromise position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In Kansas, where Caldwell gave testimony in support of medical marijuana reform to a legislative committee<\/a> earlier this year, he said many state-level lawmakers are still \u201cutterly terrified at the idea of legalizing cannabis.\u201d But as with the Carolinas, he held out hope that pressure from the incoming Trump administration might open lawmakers\u2019 minds to a compromise medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll just have to see,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I am keeping my chin up.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kansas House passed a medical cannabis legalization bill in 2021 but efforts in the Senate have continued to prove challenging.<\/p>\n Following what\u2019s been interpreted by some as a repudiation of the state\u2019s Democratic Party in last week\u2019s election, one of the big questions now is what kind of reforms Republicans might support.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there there is still plenty of room for cannabis to continue to grow,\u201d Caldwell said, but at the same time he acknowledged that ending criminal penalties or passing adult-use legalization is \u201cgoing to be very challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think the focus in the deep South, in my world, is going to be \u2018take victories where you can,’\u201d he said, \u201cbut once again, it\u2019s going to be slow, incremental victories.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Keefe, MPP\u2019s director of state policies, also noted that despite some recent failures at expanding state-level cannabis reform, so far no state has undone a marijuana legalization law.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as the dust settles on the presidential election, podcaster Joe Rogan said recently that Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris \u201cdidn\u2019t want to talk about marijuana legalization\u201d<\/a> when she was invited\u2014and ultimately declined\u2014to participate an interview on his podcast.<\/p>\n Asked about it on an episode that aired on Tuesday, Rogan said the Harris campaign \u201chad requirements on things that she didn\u2019t want to talk about\u201d that factored into that decision.<\/p>\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to talk about marijuana legalization, which I thought was hilarious,\u201d said Rogan, who endorsed Trump on the eve of Election Day last week, days after interviewing the GOP nominee.<\/p>\n Now the question for advocates and stakeholders is what it means for cannabis to have Trump retake the Oval Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whether the president-elect\u2019s stated support for legalization in Florida, for example, will translate into action on reform legislation after Trump takes office in January is uncertain.<\/p>\n Republicans have reclaimed a majority in the U.S. Senate<\/a>, and the political composition of the House is still to be determined. The president\u2019s power to unilaterally change federal marijuana laws is limited, and GOP congressional lawmakers have historically resisted cannabis reform.<\/p>\n Federally Approved Research Marijuana Is \u2018Very Similar\u2019 To What\u2019s On Commercial Markets, Study Says, But Other Scientists Aren\u2019t So Sure<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post In Election\u2019s Aftermath, Pennsylvania And Hawaii Appear Most Likely To Legalize Marijuana In 2025, Advocates Predict<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of last week\u2019s election, cannabis reform advocates are working to determine what the outcomes will mean for state-level efforts at legalization. Shifts in party control over legislative chambers as well as the election of new governors in some states have forced activists to take a hard lookContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78999,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998\/revisions\/78999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hawaii<\/h3>\n
Florida<\/h3>\n
New Hampshire<\/h3>\n
Wisconsin<\/h3>\n
North Carolina<\/h3>\n
South Carolina<\/h3>\n
Kansas<\/h3>\n
Overall Outlook For Cannabis In 2025<\/h3>\n
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\nRead More: In Election\u2019s Aftermath, Pennsylvania And Hawaii Appear Most Likely To Legalize Marijuana In 2025, Advocates Predict<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"